FaceApp, the brainchild of Yaroslav Goncharov, is facing controversy on the app's usage of personal data, location, and preferences from all the linked servers under the provided username. The app became famous because of its trending old-age filter that was flaunted by users across the world. Indians started following the trend massively by downloading the app until it showed prolonged technical errors.
Indians have raised concerns about not being able to use the app due to continuous task errors in the software. The Indian netizens using the app immensely, to produce pictographic renditions of themselves through different filters like an old-age filter, expressed their dismay through social media platforms Twitter and Instagram about the app-crash.
With tutorials on how to dodge the 'block' flooding the internet, people have started suspecting that FaceApp is blocking India users. The rumors about the viral app's ban in India were also favoured by the seamless app usage by changing the mobile location through a VPN until July 18. The app stopped responding to VPNs after the mid-day on July 18 showing similar crash reports after multiple trials through different devices and VPNs, IBTimes India independently confirmed.
All the chaos about the app has led to some global privacy concerns due to its outrageous terms and services in its privacy policies. The app's website declares that its service depends on the data transcribed by its third-party analytics tools by reading the user's traffic, usage trends, web pages, and the add-ons. It also states that the app shares the user data with its affiliates which in turn curates the data for better services but the secondary process is purely dependent on the user permissions.
FaceApp's user content policy also declares some outrageous terms. It states that the app usage agreements will permit the application of a license to modify or publish any personal user content publically, in varying formats and channels, without paying any compensation or remuneration to the user. It adds on to the policy that once the user content is shared through their services, the public will be able to view all the associated information quoted by the user through the app.
The app pegged 100 million downloads within a short span but is losing users due to its absurd content policy.
